P.R. Laws tit. 18, § 1597

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 1597. Prohibition

No public or private school, whether elementary, middle or high school, nor any university, college or technical school or entity authorized, licensed or accredited as an educational institution, whether by the General Education Council of Puerto Rico or the Council on Higher Education of Puerto Rico, may post or disclose the social security number of any student in a place or object visible to the general public in order to identify such student, to place or publish grade lists, lists of students enrolled in courses or any other list given to teachers; nor include the same in the student directory or similar list, except for confidential internal use; nor making it accessible to any person who has no need or authority for accessing said data.

If a document that contains a social security number has to be made public, outside of the academic confidentiality context, said number shall be edited so that said data be partially or totally illegible, without it being construed as an alteration of the contents of the document.

These protections may be waived, voluntarily, by students of legal age or legally emancipated or by the parents with custody and the parens patriae of the minors through a written authorization; however, said waiver may not be imposed as a condition for the enrollment, graduation, grade index or credit for transcripts or rendering services.

This provision shall not apply as to the use of the social security number in cases where it is required or authorized by federal law or regulations, or its use for identity verification purposes, validations, employment, taxes, or financial assistance, provided that the agency or agencies involved maintain its confidentiality.

History —Sept. 1, 2006, No. 186, § 1, eff. 90 days after Sept. 1, 2006.